


Worlds Collide

by InfamousRowe



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender, 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: (he can feel and talk to spirits sometimes), BAMF Gaang, BAMF Katara, BAMF Sokka, Canon-Typical Violence, Each chapter so far is a diff pov, F/F, F/M, M/M, Mentor Aizawa Shouta | Eraserhead, Not Beta Read, POV Multiple, Parental Aizawa Shouta | Eraserhead, Protective Katara (Avatar), Protective Sokka (Avatar), Protective Zuko (Avatar), Shinsou Hitoshi Replaces Mineta Minoru, Shinsou Hitoshi is in Class 1-A, Spiritual Sokka, Swearing, Will add tags as I continue, bamf zuko, i just really liked the idea, idk if that’ll continue, is that really not a common tag??, not sure yet if I'll want to deal with relationship shit, possible Katara/Aang, possible Zuko/Sokka - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-26
Updated: 2020-10-23
Packaged: 2021-03-07 15:50:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 11,761
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26660158
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InfamousRowe/pseuds/InfamousRowe
Summary: The Gaang go to investigate reports of a group of firebenders attacking towns in the Earth Kingdom, knowing that the spirits of the area are getting restless with the violence so soon after the end of the war. Their attempts to stop the firebenders are met with resistance from the group as well as attacks from the spirits that can't tell friend from foe. What will happen to the Gaang when the Avatar State energy mixes with that of the spirits?
Comments: 78
Kudos: 211





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I had inspiration. I actually really really like this so far??? I want to continue but I feel terrible about putting off working on 100% Riot. Let me know if y'all want more, cuz I'd be super willing to continue if people like this!

The world was in a time of peace. After Avatar Aang and his friends defeated ~~Phoenix King~~ ; ~~Fire Lord~~... Ozai, the rest of his army fell easily without their leader. Prince Zuko had fought his sister in an Agni Kai during Sozin’s Comet and won with the help of his friend Katara, though not without a parting scar on his chest from the Princess to match the one his father gave him on his face. His recovery took a few days even with Katara’s help, his heartbeat erratic from the lightning that had shot him directly. Katara had despaired for her new friend at the time, wanting to help him immediately but having to end the fight with the Princess. And so she had. Zuko had healed and was crowned Fire Lord not long after he was well enough to stand on his own. His uncle Iroh was there watching with a warm smile, proud of the young man that he thought of as a son. After the coronation, Zuko put out a notice for all Fire Nation troops to retreat and return to the Fire Nation as soon as possible. There were, of course, those who refused, those who still followed the previous Fire Lord with a blind devotion. They were weeded out, brought down and punished the moment the new Fire Lord found them. There would be ones that were able to slip through the cracks of the recovering Nations, hiding out in wait for everything to blow over before attempting to return.

This is one such group. Almost a year after the new Fire Lord was crowned, a fairly prominent town in the Earth Kingdom was set aflame. Homes were destroyed and people were killed, bringing the attention of those who were working to help heal the land. Avatar Aang and Fire Lord Zuko were quickly informed, messenger hawks sent out as soon as possible in an attempt to keep the destruction to a minimum. A sky bison was seen landing and staying at the Fire Nation palace’s grounds for a short while before leaving. Word quickly spread that General Iroh took hold of the Fire Lord’s duties while the young man went to assist the small town in a Nation that was not his own. The public was already praising their new Fire Lord.

* * *

Aang felt the hairs on his arms stand on end, a full body shiver working through his small frame. He didn’t get cold, a perk of his airbending and firebending, so it could only be one other thing. Spirits. He had felt this at Senlin Village with Hei Bai, and again at the Northern Water Tribe when Zhao killed Tui and La took control of him to decimate the Fire Nation forces that had been attacking. He glanced over at Sokka who had a slight frown marring his face, side pressed up against Zuko’s. His friend had confided in him a few months after the war ended that he had a connection with spirits ever since his run-in with Hei Bai, and that had only strengthened with his connection to Yue, the new moon spirit, and again with their brief interaction with Wan Shi Tong in his library. Sokka could feel the energy that surrounds the spirits, just as Aang could, and at times could even talk to Yue depending on the moon cycle and time of year. He caught his friends eyes and bit his lip when Sokka gave a nod. There were definitely spirits in the area, and from the look on Sokka’s face and the feeling in Aang’s body, they weren’t happy.

There was a fairly open space not far from the town that Aang guided Appa towards, allowing the sky bison to land and begin grazing while Momo flew off to pick berries from nearby bushes. His friends slid off the bison’s side with no problems, as if it hadn’t been almost a year since most of them had last gotten in the saddle. Only Katara and Sokka were just as used to it as Aang by this point, both of them riding around with him when they weren’t at the Fire Nation with Zuko helping him repair damages between the Nations, to help any towns that needed it during that year.

The group walked together, Sokka and Zuko taking up Aang’s left while Katara, Toph, and Suki were on his right. It was a decent walk to the town, but it became obvious when they got close. They had seen it a bit from the air, but up close the devastation was even more profound. Katara let out a small gasp, a hand reaching up to cover her mouth in her shock. Toph was frowning, her bare feet digging into the ashes that covered the ground in a thick layer; Suki had a blank expression on her face, which was almost worse. The Kyoshi Warrior wasn’t apathetic—though her role as the leader of the Kyoshi Warriors required her to mask her emotions—this was something else, something that Aang wasn’t able to describe. Sokka and Zuko looked pained, Zuko most of all. This was committed by his people, even if they didn’t want to be under his rule, and Aang was certain that Zuko would feel responsible for the tragedy. They moved through the wreckage slowly, looking over the burnt out homes and stores, watching small pieces of the lost lives flutter in the wind. A wave of sign that escaped the burning, a small doll with hair that was just about gone from the fire that had almost consumed it, scraps left from those who managed to flee in time. There were no bodies; whether they were buried under rubble, burnt to a crisp, or removed, Aang didn’t know. He had seen enough bodies in his short time alive and he really didn’t want to see more—he knew that he would see it again some day, but he hoped it would be some time before it happened. Only a few people remained, wagons full of items that had not been destroyed being carted off.

“Excuse me,” Aang went up to one of the workers, a large woman with scars running along her tan skin. “Can you tell me what happened here?”

“Ah, Avatar.” She looked over the group, her gaze lingering on Zuko before continuing. “You just missed the group that did this. They stayed long enough to destroy any chance of continuing a life here before moving on. If you want to stop them, you should head out quickly. They moved South a day ago, so they may be in the next town by now. You’d best hurry, else the unrest with the spirits will only grow.”

He frowned, glancing between his friends before turning back to her. “Thank you for the information. I only hope that we’ll be quick enough.” Aang turned then, quickly making his way back to Appa. The others had to pick up their pace to keep up with the airbender. Before they could even attempt to climb up, Aang whipped up a gust of air that picked them all off the ground and deposited them into the saddle. Only once he was sure they were all on and wouldn’t fall out did he call out to Momo, who flew over quickly and wrapped around Aang’s shoulders, before calling out a quick “yip yip” to Appa. The bison lifted off the ground and immediately turned in the direction Aang guided him, heading South to the next town.

It took less than an hour for them to arrive, and it was obvious that the group that had destroyed the previous town was still there. Fire licked up the sides of buildings, shooting out from hands that they could just barely see from their height. Aang didn’t wait for Appa to land, jumping off from his perch and diving straight to the town. He brought out his glider, slicing through the air with his bending and bringing it down in a gust of pressurized air. The sudden air pressure extinguished the flames and brought with it a sudden _boom!_ that startled nearby attackers. Aang stood from the crouch that he had landed in, anger written across his young face.

“Stop this instant!” He roared, layers of voices backing his own. “Cease your destruction and leave this place!”

The firebenders glanced between one another, uncertainty clouding them. After all even if this was a small child, he was the Avatar and he had defeated the previous Fire Lord. But numbers made them cocky. The large group—and wow, it suddenly had a lot more people than he had originally seen—converged, fire blasting from their fists and towards Aang. He prepared himself, feeling his inner fire answering to his call and shifting the attack around his body. Aang was prepared to send it right back to his attackers, only to notice that the flames had caught more of the buildings around him, igniting the wood and cloth that made up the establishment. He quickly smothered the flames he had in his control, leaving him open to another attack. The group before him saw his hesitation to use fire and pressed the advantage—they didn’t care about this town after all. Aang felt another shiver bolt through him even with the heat of the flames brushing up against his skin and clothes; the spirits were here.

A sudden flash passed by, too quick to see, and one of the benders was gone, leaving only a scream in his wake. Aang felt multiple presences behind him and whipped around, shoulders sagging in relief when he saw his friends. The relief didn’t last as he caught sight of the spirits coming towards them, too enraged to tell the difference between friend and foe. He felt his friends join his side, though he would rather they leave so that they wouldn’t get hurt; the only problem was that his friends were determined to protect him and each other at all costs. Truly, he couldn’t ask for a better family. They easily pressed close, backs to each other so they could watch the spirits surrounding them. Aang felt the power beneath his skin grow, his tattoos flickering their eerie glow as the spirits grew closer. His feet lifted off the ground as the glow finally settled; a wave of energy crashing towards them. He did the only thing he could; he pushed back. The energy that he released in return smashed against the spirits’, a thundering, echoing **_crack_ ** resounding through the air. The spot the two energies hit began to glow the same shade of blue as his tattoos as more and more _crack_ ing sounded from the spot. Only moments later a tremendous wave of energy pushed against everything in its path, launching spirits and humans alike away from the epicenter. When Aang’s eyes next opened, he was on the ground with his friends, who were slowly waking from being knocked out by the wave. He could feel a pull coming from the glowing tear in front of them, his body being pulled in that direction.

“Uh, guys?!” He yelped, clawing at the ground beneath him as he was pulled closer.

Zuko’s good eye widened and he launched forward, grabbing hold of Aang’s hand. They stopped momentarily, only to soon be heaved towards the light together. One by one his friends joined in, trying to stop the drag that the energy had on his being. Aang wasn’t sure why he was the one being pulled in, but he guessed it had to do with his connection to the spirits and his Avatar status.

Even with all his friends working together, they were still being pulled in. “Guys, let go.” His voice felt like a whisper, but he knew that they heard. Each of them shook their heads, pure stubbornness keeping them connected to their friend. “I don’t know what’s going to happen when I hit that light, but I don’t want you guys to get caught up in it along with me.” He looked in their eyes one by one. “Please.”

Katara was the first to speak. “No, Aang. We can’t let you do this alone. No matter what happens, we do it as a team.” She paused, a small, sad smile on her face. “‘Team Avatar’, right?”

He felt tears brimming his eyes, though they weren’t just from the pain of his shoulders and arms feeling like they were being pulled from their sockets. “Team Avatar,” he agreed softly.

With those words, their attempts were finally brought to an end, the energy yanking them the last few inches into the bright light. A piercing chill burned through his veins, shrinking his world down to the freezing cold lingering in his bones. That was all he knew before a black nothingness enveloped him.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gonna come right out and say this... I haven't read anything in BNHA past the Chisaki arc, and I barely remember that. I'm going based off wiki and google searches so if anything seems off then that's the reason. Let me know if anything's completely incorrect though and I'll do my best to fix it. Though I am aware that Shinsou isn't supposed to move to the hero course until his 2nd year, but he's my fave and I hate the grape pervert so they're switching places.
> 
> But! It was another night of inspiration! It's mostly a set-up to show how Hitoshi took grape perverts spot cuz I hate that little shit and want my good purple boi in class 1-A instead. So yeah, I got rid of grape kid and put Hitoshi in. Sorry for anyone that liked him but I don't. 
> 
> And it's the other side of the portal time! They'll meet in the next chapter!

After Bakugo and Todoroki completed the remedial Hero License course and gained their Hero licenses, and after Midoriya defeated Gentle Criminal, their school held a festival. Still being stuck in class 1-C grated on him, but he was assured by Aizawa that he would be moved up soon. In the meantime, he used his position to his advantage. Scaring the kids in 1-A was the highlight of Hitoshi’s night, especially upon seeing the grape pervert run screaming from the Haunted House. Only a few students were unfazed by his appearance in the Haunted House, which put a bit of a damper on his mood, but it was quickly turned around by the next set of unsuspecting kids.

The night ended and they returned to their dorms, only for Hitoshi to be stopped outside of his building by Aizawa. “Come on, kid.” His voice was muffled by his capture tape wrapped around the lower half of his face, but Hitoshi saw him jerk his head to the side in what had to be the direction he wanted them to go.

“Something wrong?” Hitoshi asked, stuffing his hands into his hoodie pockets. He was still covered in the fake gore from the Haunted House but he didn’t particularly care.

Aizawa shook his head and walked forward. “Opposite, actually. I talked to principal Nedzu earlier today, and he agreed with my assessment.”

Hitoshi tilted his head. “Your assessment?”

“I suggested that one of my current students be transferred to 1-C while you get transferred to 1-A.” He glanced at Hitoshi out of the corner of his eye, giving him a view of the scar running along the bottom of his eye socket. “Mineta Minoru is being moved down to your current class, which opens a spot for you in my class.”

Hitoshi paused, eyes widening. “Wait, are you saying I’m being transferred soon?”

“You are,” Aizawa gave a small nod of his head. “Don’t get me wrong, you still need a lot of training. It’s going to be hell for you for the foreseeable future.”

A grin spread across his face. “I don’t care, Sensei. I’ll do whatever it takes to prove I belong in the Hero course.”

Aizawa searched his face for a moment before giving a soft hum and continuing his walk. “Nedzu and I already have the necessary paperwork ready. Now we just need to inform Mineta about the changes. I’m sure he won’t appreciate it, but it has come to our attention—on behalf of quite a few people—that he is not Hero material. His Quirk may be useful, but his attitude and presentation are lacking.”

“So what would happen if he tries to refuse?” Hitoshi asks, staying by his mentor's side.

“We’d probably set up a battle between the two of you to give you both the chance to show you are worthy of the Hero course.”

Hitoshi nods, going quiet to think over their conversation. If he had to fight Mineta, he’d be at a bit of a disadvantage since he hasn’t had much combat training. But if he managed to get the grape pervert under his control, he could end the battle quickly. That is, if it comes to that.

They arrive at principal Nedzu’s office and Aizawa knocks on the door. He hears the principal saying to come in, and moves through the door once his mentor slides it open. Nedzu isn’t the only one in the office, with both Mineta and Present Mic being in attendance.

“What’s going on?” The shrill voice of the shorter boy asks, looking between the teachers and principal first before his eyes land on Hitoshi.

“A transfer,” Nedzu answers with his trademark grin. “You’ve shown a lack of Heroic qualities, Mineta Minoru, and as such we are requesting that you transfer out of the Hero course and to class 1-C.”

“What do you _mean_ a lack of Heroic qualities?” The grape gapes at Nedzu, eyes flicking wildly around at each of the people present. “I’m plenty Heroic! I show off to all the girls I can!”

Aizawa raises an eyebrow at that, staring at the short boy. “That doesn’t make you Heroic.”

“You-you can’t just transfer me! I refuse! And besides! Who’d take my place?!” Mineta crosses his arms, looking almost smug like he thought that would be the end of it.

“Shinsou Hitoshi would take your place.” The voice came neither from principal Nedzu nor Aizawa, but instead Present Mic. The man had a grin on his face, his green eyes glinting in the artificial lights. “And if you have a problem with it, we have a solution. A battle between the two of you to determine who gets to be in class 1-A.”

Mineta’s wide eyes turned on him, a beseaching look in his eyes. “If, if uh,” he paused, body language pleading for Hitoshi’s help. “If he doesn’t want to fight, then I can stay right?”

Hitoshi grinned, showing off his teeth in what he was sure was a feral show of eagerness. “I’m all down for a fight. Unless, that is, _you_ don’t want to fight _me_.”

The grape boy gulped audibly, once again looking around the room for any assistance. “I uh…” His eyes caught on Hitoshi’s wide smirk and visibly flinched away. “No. No fight.”

“That makes this easier then,” Nedzu announced, pulling out papers and sliding them across his desk. “If you’d both sign for your transfers, that’d be much appreciated.”

Hitoshi grabbed a pen and easily signed his name on his own paper and watched as Mineta’s hand shook while he signed on his.

“The transfer will occur before the end of the week.” Nedzu took the papers and put them in a drawer. “I suggest you both pack and get ready to move. Have a good night.” With the principal’s dismissal obvious, Hitoshi headed out of the room with his mentor on his heels.

Once they were a few hallways away, Aizawa tapped his shoulder. Hitoshi turned and saw a small smirk on the man’s face. “Congrats, kid.”

* * *

The whole school was buzzing by the end of the week, and Hitoshi could barely keep up with the gossip. He knew it was about his transfer though. Throughout the week while he waited for the paperwork to be completed, his class—his old class soon—congratulated him on his accomplishment. It was weird, having people actually talk to him and not see any terror hidden in their eyes. He would actually miss 1-C; he was just glad that they would be able to handle themselves and keep Mineta from getting all grubby with the girls.

On the day of his move, Midoriya approached him with a few of his friends—Todoroki, Iida, and Uraraka if he remembered correctly—and gave him a big, goofy grin. “Hey Shinsou! I heard you’re moving to our class today!”

He gave a nod, glancing at the others behind Midoriya. Their reactions seemed sincere enough, though Todoroki’s thoughts on the matter were difficult to deduce with his stoicism. “We’ve got the paperwork all settled. I’m replacing that grape kid.”

Uraraka’s eyes widened, a grin splitting across her face. “Mineta’s gone?! Oh thank the stars!”

Hitoshi raised an eyebrow, though he wasn’t all too surprised by the reaction. He had heard about Mineta’s proclivity towards trying to touch any girls he came near as well as attempting to spy on them while they changed.

“That’s awesome, Shinsou!” Midoriya gushed, stars practically visible in his eyes. Man, that kid was just too energetic for his tastes. He was nice, though. “Do you need help moving your things? I’m not certain which room will be yours, but if you take Mineta’s old room, you’d be next door to me!”

He shuddered slightly at the thought of not only taking the perverts room, but also having to spend so much time next to so much energy.

“There’s also open rooms next to Kacchan or Satou,” Midoriya continued as if he hadn’t seen Hitoshi’s reaction, which could be likely. “If you do pick one of those, I’d suggest Satou. Kacchan can be a bit much for some people.”

“Who is Kacchan?” Hitoshi asked, glancing between the others in the group. He didn’t miss Iida’s or Uraraka’s reactions—if they had had water in their mouths, they would have done spit-takes.

“Don’t, uh-” Uraraka rubbed the back of her neck as she tripped over her words. “You probably shouldn’t call him that to his face. That’s just Midoriya’s nickname for Bakugo Katsuki. He’d probably try to kill you if he heard you say that.”

A slow grin spread over Hitoshi’s face. “Oh, yeah?” Oh, he’d definitely be fucking with Bakugo by using that name whenever he could.

Everyone, even Midoriya, looked a bit shaken up by his reaction. A silence settled for a short while before the energetic teen tried to bring their conversation back to where it had been. “So, uh, did you need help?”

“Actually, yeah. Thank you.” Hitoshi knew where he was going to be staying. As long as Aizawa approved of it, he’d be next to Bakugo. This would be so much fun for him.

* * *

Time passed. Hitoshi trained as much as he could, taking help from his new classmates and working with his mentor at every opportunity. He was still a long ways away from being close to their level but he was getting used to using his Artificial Vocal Cords as well as his capture weapon that Aizawa was training him in. This would be their first time out to a training facility as a class since he joined.

With everything class 1-A had been through over the course of the first two terms, you would think that they’d be more prepared for random villain attacks; and yet, here they were. They hadn’t even made it to their destination when an attack occurred. They could see a man with a mask throwing what looked like glowing portals around the area with another man nearby creating diversions with his own Quirk. Anyone, usually a Hero, that hit the portals disappeared, though not for long. It seemed to be a short distance portal Quirk since those that disappeared returned a few moments later, jogging or sliding around corners of buildings. Not super useful, but with the right application it could cause some chaos. The street was blocked, keeping their bus from continuing on.

Aizawa sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Stay,” he commanded as he jumped out of the bus, easily becoming Eraserheard the moment he hit the streets.

And predictably, class 1-A jumped out of their seats and converged in the front of the bus. They spilled out onto the street, dressed in their Hero costumes—Hitoshi didn’t have a finished one yet; he wore only his gym clothes, capture weapon, and voice modifier. Still, he sighed and followed his classmates. No wonder they got into so much shit. They just couldn’t sit still when shit hit the fan, not that he was much different; Hitoshi just preferred to think things through.

There weren’t many pro’s on the scene. Eraserhead was smoothly dodging portals that the villain threw all around, but every time he got close, he was hit with a portal and sent about a block away. With him and his classmates, things could turn quickly. There were only two villains but they had decent Quirks that helped to keep them from getting apprehended.

Todoroki and Midoriya stepped forward, followed closely by Bakugo. Ice shot from Todoroki’s right side, running along the ground and freezing the soles of the villain’s shoes to the ground. Midoriya’s body flickered with his Quirk, green lightning-like energy dispelling from his skin. He and Bakugo shot forward, zig-zagging around new and old portals alike. Hitoshi and his other classmates watched from the sidelines, ready to help if they had a chance. He would have attempted to use his Quirk, but with all the noise in the area it was unlikely that the villain would hear or respond to him. Ice and energy hit a portal at the same time, a booming noise lurching down the street. A force expelled from the hit-point, knocking everyone back, most of all Midoriya, Bakugo, and Todoroki since they had been the closest. Hitoshi and his classmates were pushed back harshly against the wall of a building behind them, though he couldn’t take his eyes off the area that the noise had originated from. A glowing tear cracked through space in front of them, emanating a high pitched whine as more and more energy pushed against them. He caught sight of Midoriya on his side nearby; he seemed to be out of it but he was still awake. Not much further down was Bakugo and Todoroki, both of them pinned to the wall with the pressure. The villains, from what he could tell, had been knocked unconscious.

Slowly, the tear grew brighter. A screeching, not unlike that heard from the Nomu, hit his ears and pierced through his brain. His vision swam as a headache bloomed behind his eyes, making his vision fuzzy around the edges. A moment later, he saw what looked like a limb coming from the portal. His mind flashed to the descriptions that 1-A had told him of the League of Villains, how body after body emerged from a dark portal and attacked the class. This portal didn’t look how they had described, but there was a possibility that it would bring the same thing. Then bodies came tumbling through the opening, one by one thumping to the hard cement. There were six total from what he could tell, and the moment the last one came through the portal closed with a quick _zip_ , leaving only a headache and white spots in his vision. Oh, and the unknown people.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So a few liberties were taken...  
> 1) I can’t remember if Zuko's ship had a name but I decided on using the one from a fic i read that I cannot remember the name of currently. If y’all know, let me know so I can properly credit them.  
> 2) I have no idea of what the gaangs heights are so I made them close to the same heights as 1-A since they’re about the same age. Zuko will be slightly taller since he’s 18 in this.  
> 3) ATLA is supposed to be based on East Asian culture and a few others. I went with Chinese being their main language, though it’s in English for fic purposes. And since BNHA is set in Japan, they speak Japanese. I don’t know much about either, so if anything is wrong or just bad in any way, let me know how to fix it and I will. I do very little research but I don’t have the drive for that.
> 
> Sorry for the long note. Thank you for giving this fic a chance! (Leave a comment if you can! I live off them) <3

Zuko’s head pounded and pain laced through his skull as he groaned, his hands pressed to the hard ground beneath him while his knees rubbed against the grit. Sounds were slowly pouring in past the ringing in his ears, though nothing sounded familiar. He heard clanking like that of what could be heard on the _Wani_ while he was on it for three years, as well as weird horn noises that he had never heard before. An almost deafening silence enveloped him as he lifted his head and his eyes focused. The first thing that caught his eye was a group of… people? in front of him. The ‘person’ aspect he wasn’t sure of mostly because there were beings with non-human forms, and even some of the ‘humans’ had weird appearances and abnormal colors in their hair. His eye flit around the area, heartbeat growing more erratic the more he saw. Large buildings surrounded them, made of what looked to be mostly metal. Not even Ba Sing Se, nor the Capital City in the Fire Nation, had constructions that looked like these. That wasn’t even to mention the large, boxy contraptions that moved by on wheels but weren’t being pulled by anything. His attention was diverted when he heard his friends groaning near him. The first to notice anything was Toph; as her feet hit the ground, she tensed up unlike she ever had before.

“Sparky, what’s going on?” She asked him quietly, likely noticing how many people surrounded them, and their current location. She probably saw even further away with her seismic sense, which likely wasn’t helping her stress.

“Don’t know. Prepare for a fight just in case, though.” He shifted and felt his hair come undone from its half plait that Katara had done for him and slowly drift down to his shoulder blades. It had grown long in the year after they ended the war, and he had left it as is mostly because his friends enjoyed running their fingers through the silky strands. Now it got in his line of vision and in his way.

Next to move was Aang, he sat upright and looked around with wide eyes, an entranced look on his face as he took everything in. “Woah! Amazing!”

Zuko pinched the bridge of his nose, agitation seeping through. Of course the Avatar would see their predicament as something interesting. “We need to regroup-” before he could finish, a blur of black landed in front of them. His other friends had yet to come to enough to be of any help and as such Zuko shifted in front of the rest of the gang protectively. He was immeasurable glad he had had the forethought to bring his dual broadswords. Zuko barely refrained from immediately drawing them; Aang’s influence on his reactions was obvious.

The man in front of him lowered the item on his face so Zuko could see his red eyes. They seemed to glow, and it suddenly brought his attention to the man’s hair; it was floating just slightly around him. Was he an airbender? But that didn’t make sense… Before he could contemplate further, the man spoke. His words sounded odd, close enough that Zuko thought he could almost understand. When Zuko didn’t react to his words, the man tried again. “Who are you and how did you end up here?”

“Uh,” Zuko replied eloquently, glancing back at Aang. The boy shrugged, making Zuko let out a tired sigh and replied to the latter question, trying to avoid the first. “No idea how we got here.”

It didn’t slip the man’s notice. “Who are you then? Are you with the League?”

“The who?” Aang piped in, curiosity winning out over caution.

The oppressive feeling in the air that Zuko hadn’t even realized was there suddenly disappeared as the man’s hair fell and his red eyes changed to a dark color. It almost looked black but that hardly made sense; then again, this entire experience didn’t make sense. The man sighed, bringing something out of his pocket and raising it over his eyes. A clear liquid came out and hit his eyes one at a time. Zuko couldn’t help but flinch at that.

“How old are you?” The man finally asked, stuffing his hands back into his pockets. There was the sound of shuffling behind him and Zuko caught sight of the crowd of people he had seen earlier moving closer.

Unsure if he should answer that, Zuko glanced at the approaching group. This seemed to distract the man long enough to divert his attention and take his mind off his previous question. He called out something to the group in what had to be the language he had used earlier before returning his focus to Zuko and his friends. By this point, the others had shaken off their stupor and were hesitantly watching the interaction. Zuko felt a shift of fabric by his left side and could instantly tell it was Sokka from the supportive squeeze he pressed to Zuko’s shoulder.

“Buddy,” his friend began, slowly shifting to a standing position with Zuko and the others following suit. “We have no idea what’s going on or where we are.”

The man grumbled and from this angle Zuko finally caught sight of the scar running along the man’s eye socket as well as the dark bags under his eyes. “It’s not safe out here right now.” He glanced over and behind their group to where some other people Zuko hadn’t noticed were being confined in weird metallic wrist holders. “This probably isn’t going to just go away, as much as I wish it would, so you’ll have to come with me.”

“Uh, no can do, Mr. Floaty-Dude.” Sokka said, standing his ground by Zuko’s side, just as protective as him. “We don’t know you. How do we know you’re not evil?”

Another, more tired sounding sigh came from the man. He turned to the group behind him. “Yaoyorozu, Iida, come over here please.” It only took a moment before a girl with long dark hair up in a high ponytail, and a boy with a square face and weird legs came over to them. “These are the class presidents. They’re my students along with the rest of that group behind me.”

Zuko heard a soft “Class presidents?” from behind him, and had to agree. What the hell was that? At least he understood the ‘student’ part.

“Okay, and?” Sokka had a hand on his hip, close to where he kept his boomerang, likely getting ready for a fight.

“Hello!” The boy stated loudly, a sudden hand chopping through the air between them. Zuko and his group jumped back a foot, waiting for an element to come forth only for an extended silence to follow them. The boy’s expression fell and he spoke again. “Sorry if my mannerisms frighten you! Yaoyorozu and I are considered the leaders of our class and as such, we are the first to be called for situations like this!”

The girl nodded, her hair bobbing with her head. “If you don’t trust Aizawa-sensei,” _at least they had a possible name for the man they had previously spoken to, even though it was just as confusing as everything else._ “then maybe you could trust us. You seem to be about our age after all; most of us are close to sixteen.”

Aang pushed his way forward, slipping through both Zuko’s and Sokka’s attempts to keep him away from the strangers. “Hi! I’m Aang, and these are my friends!” He gestured to the rest of them, prompting Sokka to hit his forehead with his palm. Zuko wasn’t far behind him on that. “Sorry we seem hostile, I promise we’re not! We just had a really weird experience,” _weirder than usual at least,_ “and my friends are very protective.” Aang bowed in apology. “Please forgive us.”

The two other kids in front of them smiled at Aang, and the girl—was she Yaoyorozu or Iida?—replied. “It’s really no problem, but I’m afraid Aizawa-sensei is correct. It isn’t safe out here. We can talk more once we return to the campus, and maybe we could figure out what happened to you guys.”

Aang beamed at her, grin large as usual. “That would be great! Thank you so much!” He glanced at the rest of them, his big puppy-dog eyes on show. Both Zuko and Sokka groaned at the same time while Katara and Suki immediately went along with the younger boy. Zuko glanced at Toph, his foot hitting the ground beneath him in a series of taps. She glanced in his direction and gave a nod; these strangers were being truthful at least.

Zuko gave another quiet sigh before speaking. “Alright, fine. Let’s go.” And Aang’s responding grin _definitely_ didn’t make him smile in return. Of course not.

The man from earlier— _Aizawa-sensei_ if he was correct—led them to one of the metal contraptions. Zuko and his friends got in first, moving single file down the small space to the back. “Get as close together as you can. It’ll be a tight squeeze with extra people.” _Aizawa-sensei_ said from the front.

Once their friend group was as comfortable as they could be—of which included having Toph’s elbow digging into Zuko’s ribcage and Katara’s long hair getting in his mouth somehow—the other group started climbing in. Zuko could see and feel Aang’s excitement as the more interesting beings entered the space. It didn’t take long before Aang shifted enough to lean closer to the unknown people. “Hi!” He greeted as the last of them got seated and the monstrosity of a carriage began to move. “Are you a spirit?” Aang asked, staring straight at the being with a bird-like head and dark clothes.

They stared at Aang for an uncomfortable amount of time before the girl from earlier spoke up in the other language towards the maybe-spirit. They replied to her and she shifted to look at Aang. “That’s Tokoyami; and he looks that way because it’s his Quirk.” She paused for a moment. “Why did you think he was a spirit? Do people not have Quirks like his where you’re from?”

Aang’s eyes were wide, looking to the rest of their friends for assistance. They all just shrugged. He got himself into this after all. “Uh,” he began—and really, it was just getting more and more obvious how much each of them had influenced the other. “No. I don’t even know what that word means.” He skipped on trying to explain the spirit part, mostly because if these people didn’t understand why he thought this _Tokoyami_ was a spirit, then something else was going on here.

The girl raised an eyebrow. “You don’t know what a Quirk is?” She turned to the front of the carriage where _Aizawa-sensei_ was looking back at them. “Sensei,” she began, only for the man to cut her off.

“I heard.” He looked over Zuko and his group before asking; “Where are you from?”

“I’m from the Southern Air Temple!” Aang replied. “My girlfriend Katara and her brother Sokka are from the Southern Water Tribe. Toph and Suki are from the Earth Kingdom, and Zuko is from the Fire Nation!” Silence followed his announcement, and Aang looked between the girl and _Aizawa-sensei_ in confusion. “What?”

“We’ve never heard of any of those places,” the girl stated.

All of their eyes went wide. “What?” The question came from Katara. “What do you mean you’ve never heard of them? Where could we be that wouldn’t at least know of the Fire Nation?”

“Well, you’re in Musutafu, Japan,” _Aizawa-sensei_ said. “Does that ring a bell to any of you?”

They all shook their heads, a silence pressing down on their shoulders. “Are we…” Aang looked back up from where he had been staring at his hands, staring at _Aizawa-sensei_. “Are we not in our world?”

The man sighed. “I don’t know, kid. It’s a possibility, especially with the way _our_ world works nowadays. You said something about spirits earlier; I’m guessing those are a thing in your world?”

Aang nodded, gaze distant. Zuko jumped in to give him a break. “Yes, our world has spirits.” He glanced at the bird-headed being. “And your… friend looks almost like one.”

 _Aizawa-sensei_ nodded, going quiet for a moment. When he responded, it was short and simple. “We’ll continue this at the school.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aizawa’s name is italicized from Zuko’s pov cuz he’s not entirely sure if that’s actually his name. Same with Tokoyami.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Man I’m really enjoying writing this! I don’t really think this chapter is quite as good but it is what it is. I hope you all still enjoy it though!

The bus rolled through the gate, his specialized code having been entered so no alarms would go off. A glance to the back showed five of the six unknown people—kids really—looking out the windows and gaping at the buildings inside the walls. One of them speaks, the one wearing blue clothes with long brown hair tied into an intricate braid, saying something to her friends. Aizawa catches snippets; something about a _Ba Sing Se_ , and an _Avatar_ —whatever that is.

As the bus rolls to a stop, Aizawa stands at the front to address his class. “Our previous plans were obviously cut short; as such all of you will go to your dorms and study while I bring our new arrivals to a secure room. Once we’re sure they don’t mean any harm, we may do introductions.” Some of the kids—such as Kaminari and Kirishima—groan with dejection. “Yeah yeah,” Aizawa rolls his eyes and moves out of the way so class 1-A could start their trek to their dorms. “Yaoyorozu, Iida; if one of you could stay that would be appreciated. It would probably help these kids if someone their age was around.”

Iida glanced to the back of the bus. “I believe Yaoyorozu would be best suited to the task. I’m concerned that I frightened them earlier; Yaoyorozu has had the best experience with them so far.”

Aizawa nodded, pride filling his chest at Iida’s explanation. “Yaoyorozu it is then.” The rest of the class, bar Yaoyorozu, exited the bus and were on their way with the helpful push of Iida’s enthusiasm. Once the class was far enough away, he turned to the small group at the back and switched to their language. “If you’ll follow Yaoyorozu and I, we can work together to figure out what happened.”

He waited as they all glanced at each other, likely weighing how much they trusted him over whether or not the possibility of help would be useful. Eventually they all stood; the small girl wearing green hooked an arm through one of the other’s and walked out by their side. Aizawa paused as they passed, seeing the milky sheet of her eyes and raised a surprised eyebrow; she had to be blind. The moment they stepped off the bus and onto the solid ground she let go of her friend and dug her _bare feet_ into the earth, letting out a content sigh. Aizawa and Yaoyorozu followed them out, guiding them through the building and to an empty room that would be used to talk to them. It had already been swept over for any possible eavesdropping and was made to be soundproof. Nedzu was already in the room sitting on the podium at the front with Present Mic and Vlad King on either side of him, a genial smile on the principal’s face.

“Alright, kids,” Aizawa began, pausing long enough to hide a smirk at the two older boy’s squawks of indignation, “have a seat and we can begin.”

The group hesitated, looking over the desks uncertainly. It wasn’t until Yaoyorozu sat down that they followed slowly. Aizawa glanced at his coworkers, a frown on all of their faces, before turning back. Nedzu clapped his paws to get their attention, and immediately the small bald boy lit up when he saw the principal. “So who wants to start?”

Again, silence settled for a few moments before the teen from earlier—the one with a scar similar to Todoroki’s—spoke. “We had gotten missives about a group of firebenders terrorizing Earth Kingdom towns and we went to investigate. The spirits in the area were getting angry because of the violence that these firebenders started, and the attacks brought them out while we were in their crosshairs. Aang’s… powers combined with some of the spirits’ and created a crack in space. It was dragging him in, and we couldn’t just let him deal with whatever happened alone…” he paused to look at his friends. “So we all grabbed on. It didn’t help, unfortunately, and we were all pulled through.” Another short pause “That’s a shortened version of the events that brought us here.”

Aizawa had leaned against the wall behind the podium during the teen’s description, feeling a headache bloom from all the questions he had. Mic spoke up, voice pleasant and warm. “I think this would be a bit easier if we knew your names and maybe a bit about you, if you’re comfortable with sharing.”

“Oh, uh,” the scarred teen rubbed the back of his neck in what had to be a self-conscious move. “Well, my name is Zuko, Aang is the bald kid with the tattoos, Katara is the girl in blue and Sokka is the boy in blue next to her,” he paused, letting those he had named to give a sign it was them. “Then we have Toph who is the best earthbender in the world” his cheeks went red like he hadn’t meant to say that as the kid’s description and continued quickly with: “she’s also blind. And last but not least is Suki, the girl who looks like she could bench press all of us.” Those two grinned at Zuko’s descriptions of them, both punching him in the arm one right after the other. The teen scowled at them, rubbing his arm where they had punched him.

“Thank you for that,” Mic replied with a smile. “We’ll introduce ourselves in return; it’s polite after all.” He pressed a hand to his own chest. “I’m Yamada Hizashi, also known as Present Mic; the grump you met earlier is Aizawa Shouta, also known as Eraserhead. The big guy is Kan Sekijiro, aka Vlad King; and last is-”

“Am I a bear? A mouse? A dog? No one knows! But I _am_ the principal of this school, Nedzu.” He leaned forward, a glint in his mousy eyes. “I heard you say something about firebenders in your explanation earlier, and then about earthbenders in your description of your friend, Toph. Could you explain that to us?”

This time Katara spoke. “There are four types of bending in our world; Water, Earth, Fire, and Air. Each element has benders specific to that type—only able to bend that element, though there are people who can’t bend at all—and we each live in different parts of the world; waterbenders at the poles or near water, earthbenders in the areas with the most land, firebenders near volcanoes or just heat in general, and…” she trailed off, glancing at Aang who looked like he had curled into himself as she neared the end of her explanation. “Airbenders used to live in the mountains.”

“Used to?” Nedzu asked, having caught the past tense usage.

Aang nodded, fingers tugging at loose threads in his clothes. “All airbenders were wiped out a hundred years ago. All but me.” His voice was small, sounding so exhausted and resigned.

The teachers exchanged worried glances while Aang’s friends all piled around him and held him close. They let the kids have a moment to themselves, but eventually they had to continue. Aizawa reluctantly spoke up. “Earlier,” he began, waiting for some of the group to glance at him so he knew someone was paying attention, “Zuko said something about Aang’s powers combining with the spirits’ own powers; but Katara just said that each person can only bend one element.” He let that hang as its own question.

“Yeah,” Aang rubbed the back of his neck, just as Zuko had done earlier. “That’s usually the case; all but one person can only bend one element at a time—and sometimes a subset of that element, like lightning for firebenders, metal for earthbenders, or-” he stopped, eyes quickly flitting to Katara before continuing “but one person can bend all elements. They’re called the Avatar and only one can exist at a time. I just so happen to be that one.”

Nedzu nodded, his interest sparked by this group. “So your powers hit that of an unknown energy type and created a portal in your world.” He glanced at Aizawa, allowing him to continue.

“We had a similar situation occur here. As a quick explanation, around eighty percent of people in our world have unique powers, called Quirks, and sometimes people use their Quirks to harm rather than help. My class, and this school, are learning to fight those who seek to harm civilians. We were on our way to a training spot when someone used their Quirk in an attempt to steal and vandalize property; their Quirk allowed them to transport people short distances through the use of a portal. I wasn’t there when it happened but from the scene I gathered that some of my students tried to fight the person with their own Quirks. One has an elemental Quirk and another has a strengthening Quirk that emits energy when used. These Quirks likely combined to create the portal on our end at what I assume was the same frequency as yours, and pulled you here.”

“If that’s true,” Sokka leaned forward, hand on his chin in a thinking pose, “then we’d likely have to replicate the conditions to return. The problem with that is that there isn’t anyone in our world that could recreate the portal; and even if there was someone, they wouldn’t know that they had to do so.”

The group all shifted uneasily at the implication that they’d be stuck here.

Nedzu sat up straight, likely going through every scenario he could think of. “I’m certain we could figure something out for you all. Our world has many peculiar Quirks; and lucky for you, you have the smartest being on the planet to help you.” He held his paws out to either side of him, a smirk evident even though his features couldn’t completely express the emotion.

Aang smiled. “Thank you for your help.” The young boy sighed and glanced out the window to where he could see the tall buildings surrounding the campus. “What are we going to do until then though? I need to-” he stopped suddenly, eyes going wide before quickly blurting- “Appa!!”

Katara whipped her head around to look at Aang with dismay. “Oh no,” she glanced to the rest of their group. “Aang, it’ll be okay-”

He cut her off, distress written across his face. “He’s near that town alone with Momo! They’re just animals! That group could find them and hurt them!”

“Hey, hey, buddy,” Sokka moved closer to his friend. “Appa’s smart. If we don’t return soon or if anyone he doesn’t know approaches, he’ll take off with Momo and go somewhere he knows like to my dad or to Zuko’s uncle.”

“Plus,” Zuko continued, “Uncle is expecting us back in a day or two, so he’d send someone to come look for us. They’ll be okay.”

Aang slowly calmed down, his shoulders slumping. “You guys are right, they’ll be fine.” He then continued a bit quieter, like he only wanted his friends to hear. “ _They have to be._ ”

Aizawa bit back a sigh, another headache rising. Hopefully they’d find something to help these kids before long, otherwise he’d just get more grey hair than usual from his own kids.

“Alright,” Nedzu had his paws folded on his lap, watching the small group. “We’ll let your group stay here while we figure out what to do. In the meantime, maybe you all would like to learn a bit about our world and possibly tell us more about yours as well. Think of it as a cultural exchange with only one group.” He hummed for a moment. “The biggest dilemma would be the language barrier, and while there are two in class 1-A that can speak to you, as well as multiple teachers, it’d get oppressive having one follow you everywhere. Now granted, you shouldn’t leave the campus, but you can go just about anywhere here as long as you’re not disturbing a class. As for the language part, I’m sure the support course could figure out a way to translate what you say into Japanese—as well as reverse—for those who don’t understand. It’ll be easier to have you six have these items rather than an entire school full of children.” The principal smiled at them. “It’ll take a short while, so until then maybe stay close to Yaoyorozu or Aizawa for translations. Feel free to use the training grounds around here.” He turned to Aizawa “And maybe we could get a sparring session set up. It’d be interesting to have class 1-A learn to fight against a different type of opponent.”

This time Aizawa did sigh. He cracked his neck and murmured an exasperated “Fine.”

“Great!” Nedzu grinned, showing off his pearly white animal teeth. “So for now, your group can stay with class 1-A in their dorms since you’re at least familiar with them. We’ll get some new clothes sent as well so that you won’t be stuck in a single pair for however long you’re here.”

The kids relaxed a bit, giving the teachers hesitant smiles. Aang spoke as they all stood. “Thank you again for your assistance. I hope we can both learn a lot from each other.”

Nedzu gave a rare, true smile. “Of course. Now go on and get settled. I’m guessing it’s been a long day and class 1-A is probably eager to meet you all.”

The six of them waited on Aizawa and Yaoyorozu, following them out of the room and to the dorm. Yaoyorozu was hanging back a bit to talk to them.

“There’s a few… excitable students in our class.” She began, a small smile on her face. “If they give you trouble in some way you can tell me and I’ll make sure they back off. We do have one student that gets mad fairly easily and may get aggressive, but he won’t hurt you in the dorm. He may try in training though.”

A few of the others nodded, not looking particularly reassured. Aang was bouncing lightly on his toes though, barely touching the ground before taking another step. “Do you think your class will like us?” He asked, his tone making it more than obvious just how much of a kid he was.

“More than likely,” Yaoyorozu assured. “A lot of them are super friendly, some a bit reclusive, and a few in the middle. They’re all good people though.”

Aang grinned, the smile lighting up his face. Not too long after, they arrived at the dorm. Aizawa could hear the chatter from inside but couldn’t make out the words. He opened the door and stepped in, giving his class a stern look which instantly silenced them. “Alright brats, we’ve got company for a while. Support is creating translation devices for them, but until then Yaoyorozu, Iida, and I will translate between everyone. Try not to bother them too much.”

Of course his request went unanswered as the class moved forward and started speaking all at once. Aizawa pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments are my lifeblood and I love them. So if you have the energy please leave one! Even just a smiley face makes me happy!


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sokka’s POV this chapter! I’m not sure if I did his character justice but I’m hoping it’s at least close?

Sokka’s eyes were wide, looking around the area as they walked inside the building with Mr. Floaty-Dude (Aizawa if he remembered correctly) and the girl their age (Yaoyorozu) while the other kids circled around their group, asking what sounded like questions in their language. Aizawa sighed, cutting off a few of the kids with a few tired words before turning to Sokka and his friends.

“Alright, we’ll split up into a few groups so we can do introductions and switch around a bit to get to everyone.” Aizawa said, waving his students to get into groups while Sokka and his friends split into three groups.

Sokka stayed with Zuko, while Suki and Toph grouped up, and lastly, Katara and Aang remained together. Sokka shifted awkwardly while he and Zuko were ushered towards six of the students.

Their translator was Yaoyorozu for this group. “We’ll go through this for you guys first, and then I’ll introduce you guys to my classmates. How does that sound?”

“Yeah, okay,” Sokka agreed, moving a tad closer to Zuko for comfort. Their hands brushed together, helping him relax as the introductions began.

Yaoyorozu gestured to each student as she introduced them. “Shoji Mezo, Tokoyami Fumikage, Ojiro Mashirao, Hagakure Toru, Sato Rikido, and Koda Koji.” They each waved when they heard their names, and Zuko and Sokka gave awkward waves in return. Yaoyorozu continued in the other language, probably saying the same thing to the students before she gestured to Sokka while saying his name, and then did the same for Zuko.

Sokka had a few questions, but decided to save them for after they were introduced to everyone. Once the other groups finished, Sokka and Zuko moved on to the robot-like boy with the glasses who introduced himself first as Iida Tenya. He was more restrained this time which allowed him and Zuko to relax a bit. Iida started the same as Yaoyorozu. “These are my classmates,” doing the same gesture to each as he said names. “Asui Tsuyu, Uraraka Ochaco, Todoroki Shouto, Midoriya Izuku, Shinsou Hitoshi, and Jiro Kyoka.” And same as Yaoyorozu, he introduced him and Zuko next.

Sokka caught sight of Zuko staring at the kid named Todoroki, while the other kid did the same to Zuko. They were both quiet and Sokka knew why they couldn’t stop staring at each other but neither would say anything. Maybe at some point, but not right now. In any case the other groups were finished and they moved on.

When they reached Aizawa, he nodded at them and introduced everyone in a monotone voice. “Kaminari Denki, Kirishima Eijiro, Ashido Mina, Sero Hanta, Bakugo Katsuki, and Aoyama Yuga.” He then went on to say Sokka and Zuko’s names to the students.

They were finally finished with the introductions and Sokka let out a sigh. So many people and so many new names. The weirdest part was that they all had two names, which Sokka didn’t understand. The only person he knew that had two names was Toph; even Zuko didn’t have two names and he’s the Fire Lord. Now that all that was completed, Sokka turned to Aizawa with questions running through his mind.

“I have,” he started, “so many questions.” Sokka gestured to everything. “This is all so confusing.”

Aizawa turned to him at that, an eyebrow raised. “I’m sure you do, kid.” Sokka couldn’t help but grumble at that.

“Alright, so first question; _why_ does everyone have two names?” He asked. “Second; _what_ are all these things?” Sokka gestured to the sleek looking things all over the room.

“Well, the two names are our given and family names. Our family names are what we say first when we introduce ourselves, and our given names are the second. We call each other by family names in Japan until you get to know someone and they allow you to call them by their given name.”

“Okay, okay,” he nodded, glad to get an answer for that. “And the weird things around here?”

The grumpy man glanced around and gave a hum. “That’s a television, then we have a radio with stereo, and lastly ceiling lights and lamps.” He pointed to each and Sokka looked at them with wide eyes.

“What do they do?” He had an idea of what the ceiling lights and lamps did, based on their names, but a radio and television are new things he never heard of before.

“I’ll let my students tell you about all that.” Aizawa said in answer. “I’m sure you’ll have more questions about other things you see so just ask Yaoyorozu or Iida about them. I’ve got work to do though so I’ll be heading out.” With that, he walked through a doorway with a parting wave to his students.

Sokka turned to Zuko, eyes wide with wonder. “This is _awesome_.”

Zuko laughed, a warm smile on his face. “I’m glad you’re enjoying yourself. Maybe you can remake some of these things when we get back.” He went a bit quiet at that, letting out a soft sigh. “I hope we can get back before my uncle starts to worry.”

He nodded in agreement. “If he starts to worry, he’ll probably get ahold of my dad and _he’ll_ start to get worried.”

His friend reached out and squeezed his shoulder, both of them taking comfort in each other’s presence. Not long after that his sister and the others arrived, looking just as frazzled as he felt.

“This is a lot to take in,” Katara murmured, moving behind Zuko and immediately taking the bow from his hair that had almost fallen out. “Do you think we should do anything for now? Or maybe we should just take it easy for the rest of today.” She ran her fingers through Zuko’s hair—and no, he _wasn’t_ jealous of that… possibly—and began to rebraid it.

Toph scoffed, crossing her arms. “I’m not relaxing today! We’ve got the chance to fight people with completely different fighting styles and types! I want to fight these kids as soon as I can!” She cackled menacingly, hands on her hips as she faced the direction of twenty other kids near them.

Some of the students looked unnerved by her cackling, while the blond one—Bakugo—looked just as enthusiastic about fighting, though Sokka wasn’t sure he knew what she had said (maybe it was the language of her maniacal laughing that he understood). Katara and the rest of his friends rolled their eyes, used to Toph’s roughness by this point. Honestly they had gotten used to it fairly quickly.

A moment later Katara finished tying Zuko’s braid with the dark red ribbon he had been wearing and patted his shoulder. “All set.”

“Thank you, Katara.” Zuko smiled at her, tucking a stray hair behind his good ear as he looked between his friends. “How about we figure out more about this world first, and then we can see about fighting.”

Their tiny earthbender sighed, though she didn’t disagree. Taking that as acceptance, Zuko turned to the other group—he had taken to doing most of the talking in situations like this after getting used to public speaking as the Fire Lord (Aang was usually the next person to speak)—and addressed Yaoyorozu and Iida. “Could we share some stories of our worlds? Get to know each other?”

Yaoyorozu gave a smile. “That sounds great, though maybe doing things like that should wait for the translators to be made. With our support department, it honestly shouldn’t take long. Until then, how about we show you around?”

Aang nodded, pushing forward a bit to smile widely at her and the students. “Absolutely! I want to see more of this world!” He bounced lightly on his toes, barely touching the floor.

She chuckled at his enthusiasm before turning to her classmates and speaking to them (likely asking if they wanted to assist in showing them around). Midoriya (whose hair was _GREEN!_ ) raised his hand, tugging along Iida and three others. One of them was Shinsou (whose hair was _PURPLE!!_ ), another was Uraraka (who thankfully had normal brown hair), and the last was Todoroki (the boy that had been staring at Zuko earlier—the one with the similar scar. And _RED AND WHITE HAIR!_ ). He had so many questions about the colors.

After the group was assembled, Yaoyorozu and Iida kept near their group while the others led and talked. One or the other of their translators would interpret what was said for them and would ask their questions for them—if they had any.

When they got to the training grounds, Toph stopped and her grin grew wide (it almost looked painful), and dug her toes into the ground beneath them. “This is awesome!” She faced the large expanse of metal and other materials. “I can’t wait to be able to beat someone up in there!”

Iida sputtered, hands chopping the air a bit (it didn’t freak them out like it first had). “We do not just beat each other up! We hold sanctioned matches to test our skills and learn!”

“You beat each other up,” she waved him off, her grin still wide. “You just do it with adult supervision.”

Sokka chuckled, imagining how surprised these kids will be when a thirteen year old ( _almost fourteen, Snoozles!_ he could practically hear her say) blind girl beats them. She grinned in his direction like she knew what he was thinking.

Their tour group finished the loop and they returned to the building they had started at. When they got there, a pink ( _PINK!!!!!_ ) haired girl was standing outside with six devices in her hand. Her eyes were covered with goggles and her clothes were mostly soot and grime.

She waved them down and spoke to Yaoyorozu as she pushed the devices into her hands. Once she had them, the pink haired girl saluted her and sprinted away. Not even five seconds later, they all heard an explosion from that direction.

Sokka tensed and pulled out his boomerang (his space sword was strapped to his back but it wasn’t long range like his boomerang). Zuko took out his dual swords, and Suki her fans, while the others got into their bending positions.

Yaoyorozu’s eyes widened as all of them quickly got into fighting positions and held her hands out as she got in front of them. “It’s alright! That’s normal, nothing bad has happened. That was just the support department doing an experiment.”

Her words were comforting but it still took them all a moment to relax when nothing actually happened. Weapons were put away and they all stood as relaxed as they could get. It was quiet for a moment before Aang spoke. “Sorry about that…” he sighed, looking at the rest of his friends before turning to the others. “We’ve just been through some bad stuff.”

Yaoyorozu sighed and relaxed as well. “It’s alright; we probably should have warned you about that.” She paused and collected herself a bit. “But anyway, the good news is that we just received the translators. They go around one of your ears to pick up what’s being said and translate it to you in real time; it also automatically translates what you say into our language for us. So if you say something, instead of your language, we’ll hear ours; but you will still hear your own. Does that make sense?”

Sokka nodded enthusiastically, taking one of the devices and wrapping it around his ear. It was barely noticeable in weight, but he was more interested in how it would work. He decided to test it. “This is awesome! I’m really going to need to take some of this stuff back to our world!”

Midoriya grinned, so it seemed to work for them at least. A moment later, the boy spoke. “Can you understand us?” He asked, a friendly smile on his face.

“I can!” He looked to his own friends to see if they could as well and was glad to see nods and relieved smiles. “Man, this is so useful.”

“Now that you guys have those, we can get to know each other and tell stories of our worlds if you would like.” Yaoyorozu said as they entered the building, glancing at an illuminated screen with numbers on it. Most of the people they had seen earlier were gone. “Or, since it’s getting late, we could show you to your rooms and we can continue this tomorrow.”

“I don’t know about you all, but I don’t think I’ll be able to sleep for a while.” Aang replied, happily looking around the interior again.

Midoriya, who seemed to be the most outgoing of his group, returned the smile. “I wouldn’t mind staying up and talking.” He turned to his own friend group. “How about you guys?”

Shinsou and Todoroki shrugged, which Midoriya seemed to take as an affirmative, and Uraraka gave a nod.

“Talking it is!” Aang bounced over to what seemed to be the sitting area and sat on the floor. The other kids raised their eyebrows but didn’t say anything about it. Sokka and Zuko sat down on the two person seat while Toph plopped by Aang, and Katara and Suki sat on the seat next to him and Zuko.

“I’ll go first!” Midoriya said as he sat with Todoroki on one of the other two person seats. “Our world is advanced, but it got a bit stagnant after the appearance of Quirks. Either way, we’ve gotten quite far in regards to technology; as seen by our television,” he pointed at the flat object that most of the seats were facing, “and by the cars you see driving around on the street.”

Sokka nodded, leaning forward with interest. “Yeah, we’ve never seen any of these things.” He said simply. “We have carriages and carts but anything that’s kind of advanced are all war vehicles like tanks and war balloons.”

A silence stretched for a few moments, and then: “Tanks?”

“War balloons??”

“War _vehicles_?!”

All of these were said by different people with differing levels of incredulity, all of the students that were in the area were staring at him.

“Yeah?” His shoulders raised, feeling a bit defensive now.

Zuko sat a hand on his shoulder, helping him to relax, before speaking up. “Our world just went through one hundred years of war. Aang and the rest of us managed to end it a year ago.”

And again: “One _hundred_ years?!”

“ _You guys_ ended it??”

“A _year_ ago!?”

(Wow these kids really had it easy, huh.) Sokka sighed. “It wasn’t until a little under two years ago that my sister and I found Aang, the Avatar, in ice.” He paused and decided on skipping over most of the details. “We helped him train to defeat the person who had been leading the war, the Fire Lord. Once the guy was dealt with, Zuko was put on the throne and helped us end the war officially.”

“Wait, wait,” Shinsou held up a hand, his other one rubbing the bridge of his nose. “ _How_ and _why_ did Zuko take up the... throne?”

“Oh,” Zuko flushed slightly. “I was Crown Prince of the Fire Nation, son of the man who was continuing the war.” He paused, rubbing the back of his neck. “I regrettably didn’t realize how bad it was until about a year and a half ago when I joined Aang and the others. I was just banished a little over four years ago and tasked with bringing the Avatar to my father in order to be allowed back home.”

“Dude,” Shinsou stared at Zuko. “The fact that you’re casually able to just say that is insane.”

Suki was the one to reply, taking the attention off Zuko for a short while. “We all went through a lot, but our lives consisted of only the war until recently. You have to grow up quick to make it through that.”

Surprisingly, the students opposite them gave small nods. “We’ve gone through a bit recently ourselves. Nothing like a life of war, but we _have_ had to fend for our lives against people that were trying to kill us.” Uraraka said, fingers twiddling in her lap. “What I’m saying, really, is that we understand.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So the translator devices in the chapter are complete bs and honestly probably could never actually work or be made in any way, but these shows are both cartoons so imma do what I want.
> 
> Also, I’m unsure if I want to keep the introduction section of this chapter cuz it doesn’t really add anything? But idk. If y’all think it detracts from the chapter or makes it clunky or whatever, let me know and I’ll delete it and kinda work around it.
> 
> And again; comments make me happy! <3


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